


now that we're lonely

by colazitron



Series: Skam Fic Week 2018 [2]
Category: SKAM (Norway)
Genre: (bet you never thought you'd see me use these tags), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Bittersweet, F/F, F/M, First Kiss, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-05
Updated: 2018-06-05
Packaged: 2019-05-18 18:10:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14857689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/colazitron/pseuds/colazitron
Summary: Even has a celebrity crush on Prince Isak. Eva has a friend she's been hiding.





	now that we're lonely

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer:** I am in no way affiliated with the characters depicted herein or their creators. I made all of this up myself and am sharing it for fun only.
> 
>  **A/N:** Thanks to [imminentinertia](http://archiveofourown.org/users/imminentinertia) for giving me a good few pointers about realistic modern day royalty in Norway. Sorry the waving-wrist joke didn't (really) make it in there (unless you squint and know to look for it). ;) Any leftover wrongness is all me.

Even used to love May 17th. It's not that he's particularly patriotic, because who is, really? He knows that he's got it pretty good here though, and he's not opposed to celebrating that with copious amounts of alcohol.

Or at least, he wasn't.

He's still technically all for it, he's just also technically not supposed to indulge too much, and he's technically trying to follow that advice these days. Turns out doctors actually know what they're talking about occasionally, and if Even wants the meds that keep his brain somewhat balanced to do their job then his best course of action might just be giving that a chance. Who knew?

Really, it's just that not taking their advice all that seriously hasn't worked that well for him either, so he might as well give this a go. It's made a lot easier by the fact that most of his friends are complete idiots and they behave like they're drunk even when they're stone-cold sober.

Still, when Eva invited them all along to a party thrown by “this posh guy who went to Blindern I know”, Even wasn't exactly overjoyed.

It's just that May 17th is also the first night of Ramadan this year, but Even isn't exactly feeling the staying at home alone vibe. So, he goes to see the parade with the boys, and later in the evening, after some quality time spent with his parents playing board games – because that's exactly how cool Even is these days – he heads over to the Frogner address Eva sent to their group chat despite his reservations.

It isn't hard to find at all at least, and Even allows himself a moment to gawk at the three – _three!_ – cars parked out front. Surely there's no need for a family to own three cars. Especially given that the parents must be out, given the party. Maybe not all of them belong to the residents, but they do have enough space for three cars in their car port.

By the sound of it, most of the party must have spilled out into the backyard, so Even follows the noise around the side of the house. The lawn is kept meticulously short, and Even spares a moment to feel bad for how much destruction is probably going to occur here.

He texts Noora, who's bound to be sober still and might hear her phone, to find out where they are and sighs in relief when she answers only a moment later. Putting his phone back into his pocket he makes his way through the crowd towards the back of the garden where he finds the whole gang piled on and around a bench in front of the back hedge.

“You made it!” Eva squeals and barrels forward, wrapping him up in a hug. She's obviously already a bit drunk, and Even can't help but laugh when she stumbles.

“Yeah, I made it. Hi,” he says, and hugs her back.

He's always liked Eva. She's chill and happy to be happy, but when she puts her foot down she can be downright impressive.

“And did you bring the--?” Eva asks, and Even holds up the small instant camera dangling from his wrist.

“Oh my god, thank you!” she squeals, a little too loudly for how close they are, and then tries to pry it off him. “Mine still does that weird stripe right across every picture I take, I don't know what's wrong with it. Maybe the film is faulty? Do you think?”

“Maybe,” Even says. “I brought some extra film in case you run out too.”

“You're the best,” she says, and presses closer to smack a wet kiss to his cheek, immediately running off to grab Noora and Jonas and snap a selfie of the three of them. Even's never quite understood what's going on with those three, but they seem happy and chill, so he supposes that's all there is to it.

He nods a greeting to everyone else, and finds himself drifting over to Magnus and Vilde, who move aside to let him into their space and their conversation easily. Five minutes later he finds his shoulders have loosened up and he's let the atmosphere and the surprisingly not-shitty music infect him with a good mood.

When he makes his way back from the bathroom a good few hours later, the clock on his phone telling him it's close to midnight now, he starts debating going home. He's been here a good while, and everyone's starting to dip over into the kind of drunk that's not so fun to be around when you're sober. Even has no idea how Noora has dealt with this throughout her entire adolescence.

He doesn't get far across the garden though before Eva finds him again.

“Even!” she calls, one hand clutching the neck of a magnum bottle of champagne. Her hair's a bit messier than the last time he saw her, strands of it sticking out of the braid wrapped around her head, and her bunad's a little rumpled. She's managed not to spill anything on it though, from the looks of it.

Her other hand clutches that of an amused, slightly long-suffering looking Prince Isak, his own bunad looking slightly more put together still.

Fuck.

Even makes his way over quickly, weaving past dancing bodies and pulling his arm from the grasp of one particularly amorous girl, his eyes stuck on Eva and her royal captive.

How the fucking hell is Prince Isak at this party in the first place and why, oh why, is Eva dragging him over to meet Even halfway?

Is she about to be taken down by security? Surely there have to be some bodyguards somewhere.

“Even, meet my friend!” Eva yells, grinning brightly.

“Yeah, um. Eva? I think you can let him go now,” Even says, fretting a little.

Eva stares at him and frowns, and then turns to look down at her hands, eyes going wide like she's surprised to find she's still holding Prince Isak's.

“Oops,” she says, and Prince Isak laughs.

 _Prince Isak laughs_. And Even is going to revisit that later on when his heart isn't racing so much in his chest and at least four of the five alarms in his head have stopped ringing, but right now he's in no position to appreciate that adorable sound, and that pretty dimple.

“I'm really sorry,” he turns to Prince Isak to say – wait, can he even speak to a prince just like that?

“For what?” Prince Isak asks, still smiling, and looking at Even like he's trying to figure him out.

“For… her,” Even ends up saying.

Prince Isak looks between Eva and Even for a moment and then his face brightens.

“Oh! No, no, it's all good. We're friends,” he says. “I've known Eva for two years now.”

_What?_

“Yeah!” Eva chimes in, beaming again. “Issy's my friend, and he's here! He made it! So I thought you should meet!”

She grabs Prince Isak's wrist again and waves his hand around a bit in a show of celebration, and Prince Isak winces and gently pries her off his hand.

“Yep, I made it,” he agrees and then turns to Even. “It's nice to meet you – Even?”

“Um, yes. Even,” Even says. “That's me. Nice to meet you too.”

“Yay! Now you're friends too!” Eva cheers, and then reaches out to press one finger against Even's lips, stumbling a little with the force of her own movement and catching herself on Even's chest with her other hand.

Even reaches out to grab her and pull her upright automatically, grinning down at her. God, but this girl can be a disaster.

“Shall we go find Jonas or Noora for you?” he asks, words coming out a little mangled behind the finger she very insistently presses against his mouth like she's trying to shush him.

“Yes. Noora and Jonas are good. They're my boos,” she says, switching into drunken English at the end. “And don't worry. I never told Issy you have a crush on him, cause you're my friend too. It's a secret. Shhhh.”

Even freezes for the space of half a second and then slings his arm around Eva to hold her up and help her stumble her way across the garden.

Prince Isak huffs a quiet laugh, but turns it into a cough like he's trying to mask it. Even very pointedly does not look over. He's pretty sure Prince Isak's following them, if only because he doesn't know who else would be hovering close as they stumble their way over the grass.

Most of the others seem to have run off somewhere, but Noora's still at the bench with Chris, so Even breathes a sigh of relief. He's going to hand Eva over to Noora, and then he's going to grab that magnum bottle of champagne from Eva and fuck what his doctors say. He needs a drink.

Now, it's not that Even is really all that bothered by having a little celebrity crush. And if that's all that it were, he probably wouldn't even be terribly bothered by Eva blabbing about it to the object of said celebrity crush. It's just that this particular celebrity crush is the kind that Even doesn't even want to admit to, because doing so makes him blush and feel all squirmy inside. It's the kind that's not just about how gorgeous Prince Isak is with his curly hair, and his sweet smile, and his bright eyes… those shoulders, and thighs, and that one photo of his ass in tiny swim shorts from his holiday in Greece last year that was definitely creepy and Even definitely hasn't looked at at all.

It's the kind where Even wonders how someone in Prince Isak's position could ever muster up the courage to come out as publicly as he did. How he would ever even go about finding someone to be in a relationship with. Where he wonders if, even if given the very hypothetical opportunity, he could stomach all that probably comes with it. Tabloids would probably report all sorts of things and someone would definitely unearth his very public episode at Bakka sooner or later. Or that time he ran out of the Radisson butt naked. If Isak would even want to be with someone with a history as colourful at Even's – and a mental illness that as good as promises an equally colourful future.

And he knows that's ridiculous, because Isak might as well be a fictional character that's how much of a stranger he is to Even, but he can't help but… wonder.

So, yeah.

He's a little embarrassed.

“Your girlfriend's a bit drunk,” he announces to Noora and steers Eva over to sit by her on the bench.

“Eva,” Noora says with a fond sigh, and wraps her arms around Eva's waist, letting her fall against her.

Prince Isak moves over as well, carefully prying the champagne out of Eva's hand. He says something to Noora and Noora laughs and bumps their shoulders together – comfortably, like this isn't the first time they've done this.

Did everyone but him know that Eva was friends with Prince Isak? Fuck. He's going to go home and pretend this never happened.

Only then Prince Isak lifts the bottle to his mouth, tilting his head back and taking a long pull of champagne, the profile of his throat working perfectly on display. It's like something straight out of a fucking movie scene, the way Prince Isak's throat bobs, the lights of the party strung up all around them casting odd shadows over his face and body.

Even's pretty sure he's staring, and he feels his cheeks go hot, ducking his head to turn his eyes to the ground probably a little too quickly. It's not like Prince Isak was even looking his way, but Even feels called out anyway, his entire body running hot when he remembers Eva spilling the beans on his infatuation earlier.

If there was ever even the slightest sliver of a chance of Even making a good impression on Prince Isak – in a situation he always supposed to be completely hypothetical – it's gone now.

Just then, Jonas, Mahdi, Vilde and Magnus come back, seemingly deep in a very animated discussion, judging by the way Magnus is throwing his hands through the air.

“Oh, hey, bro!” Jonas says, grabbing Prince Isak in a pat-on-the-shoulder kind of hug. “I didn't know you were coming!”

“Couldn't miss it. First May 17th I can drink,” Prince Isak says with a wicked grin.

“Right! Fuck, I didn't even think of that,” Jonas says with a grin of his own and then laughs when he spots Eva half lying on Noora's lap behind Isak.

“Jonas!” Eva cheers, raising both arms in the air when he goes over to kneel before the two girls. “You came back!”

Jonas laughs and brushes some hair away from her face.

“Of course I came back, dummy,” he says. “I was just going to find the boys.”

“I found Isak!” Eva says, sitting up and almost toppling over before pointing at him with her entire arm outstretched.

Isak and Jonas both laugh.

“Yeah, I saw,” Jonas says.

Eva sighs happily and slumps back against Noora.

“This party is starting to get boring though. We should look for another one,” she says. “Are you coming too, Isak?”

Prince Isak shrugs.

“Chris and Vegard are busy and I haven't even seen Daniel around yet, so, yeah. Sure.”

Eva cheers again and then jumps up from the bench with more agility than Even thought she had left, grabbing the magnum bottle of champagne from Prince Isak's hand and taking a gulp.

When she sets it down again, she gasps, looking straight over at Even.

_Oh, please, not again._

“Even! I'm so sorry!” she wails.

“No, Eva, it's fine--” Even tries to interrupt, but Eva pats herself down – which, what? – and looks up Even with wide, sad eyes.

“I lost your camera,” she says, voice watery and eyes wet.

Even's first thought is relief that she's not trying to apologise for earlier and somehow going into detail about all the things he's probably said about Prince Isak in her presence before – fuck, Even can't believe she was friends with him this entire time – before what she said catches up with him.

“Wait, you what?!”

“Oh, the instant camera?” Prince Isak chimes in, and then looks over his shoulder and jerks his head at someone Even can't make out, until a vaguely threatening guy walks over, silent and stony-faced, and definitely out of place at a party of mostly-teenagers. He's dressed in all black, and Even's tiny instant camera looks a little odd in his hand as he hands it to Prince Isak.

“Is it yours?” Prince Isak asks, holding it out to Even in turn.

“Yeah,” Even says, and takes the few steps over to him to take it back. “Thanks.”

“No problem. Eva left it by the drinks,” Prince Isak says with a grin.

Even can't help but chuckle a little.

“Sounds about right,” he says, and Prince Isak gives him a pleased little smile that thrills Even all the way down to the pit of his belly. Even is officially pathetic.

“I forgot,” Eva pouts from somewhere beside them, breaking the spell Even fell under with the first blink of Prince Isak's eyelashes.

Fuck, was he staring at him for a creepily long time? He surreptitiously glances around, but noone's giving him the side-eye, so he figures he's good.

“But, guys! What are we going to do about this party?” Eva pipes up again. “I think I've heard enough russ shit for this year.”

Prince Isak laughs and slings an arm around Eva's shoulders.

“You can all come to mine, if you want. I've got plenty space for you to sleep off that enormous hangover you're going to have too,” he says. “And the sunrises are pretty from Skaugum.”

Skaugum Estate.

Right.

Because what with his being the son of the Crown Prince and all he lives in the Crown Prince's residence. Even really shouldn't have been surprised by that, but somehow all he can think is 'what the fuck'.

“Fuck, bro, I always thought you were joking when you said you knew Prince Isak,” Magnus blurts out, naked surprise on every single one of his features as he stares.

Prince Isak bursts into a laugh, and Jonas pinches the bridge of his nose.

“I've been talking about him for over a year, Magnus. Did you think I was making that all up?”

Magnus shrugs, seemingly not even a little bit embarrassed.

“I mean, yeah. I thought it was some weird running gag you kept going,” he says. “That makes more sense than you being friends with fucking royalty. I'm sorry, dude, but you're not that cool!”

Prince Isak claps Jonas on the back with a laugh, Eva still tucked under his other arm.

“I think you're cool,” he says, smiling like he's placating him a little.

“Oh, fuck off,” Jonas says gives him a shove that almost sends Eva tumbling to the ground.

“Okay, but, like. I'm up for it. Party at Skaugum? Sounds fucking awesome,” Magnus pipes up again.

Eva whoops and Chris cheers, and somehow, just like that, it's apparently decided.

Even's trying to think of a graceful way he can bow out, but then Prince Isak turns to him and smiles.

“You're coming too, right? Eva's going to need a photographer.”

Even's pretty sure he's blushing, but it's dark enough that Prince Isak might not notice.

“Yeah, of course,” he says. Not going? What a silly idea. “It'd be rude to turn down royalty, right?”

“Extremely rude,” Prince Isak confirms with a grin, and then turns to walk out of the garden. He waves at a few people they pass, but for the most part no one pays them any mind. Even wonders what it must be like to be used to partying with a prince. Probably really fucking weird, right?

It turns out two of the cars out front belong to Prince Isak – or, well, probably not to him personally – and Even finds himself shuffled into the back of one of them, pressed to one of Prince Isak's sides, Noora on the other. Eva's sitting up front, and the man who carried Even's camera earlier is driving.

Even half expects someone to pull out and NDA he has to sign before they can get going, but they just take off down the road as soon as everyone's belted in. The drive is only a little longer than 20 minutes, but the fact that they manage to spend it in silence, only Noora and Eva occasionally conversing in hushed tones, is still a little awkward.

Or maybe it's just awkward for Even, but he's staring out into the night, suddenly realising he's starting to be really tired, and trying to figure out how to deal with the reality that he can feel Prince Isak's knee against his own, because he's sitting in Prince Isak's car on the way to the Crown Prince's residence for some more May 17 th  partying. This is not in any way how he expected this night to go.

“Well. Here we are,” Prince Isak says once they've all hopped out of the cars, holding out his arms. “Skaugum.”

“Sick,” Magnus says, staring up at the house with unabashed awe.

Even can't help a smile at Magnus' unfiltered reaction, especially when it makes Prince Isak laugh.

“Sure, yeah,” he says. “Come on, I'll show you to the gardens. We can grab some beer on the way.”

“My man,” Mahdi says and pats Prince Isak on the back with a kind of casual gesture that makes it look like they've been friends for years.

Prince Isak leads them through the house, pitstopping in the kitchen and telling them to help themselves from a fridge he points at.

“Gardens are right through there,” he says and then turns away for a moment to grab himself a glass of water.

Noora and Jonas are already steering Eva outside, the half-full bottle of champagne from the party still in Eva's hand, and Chris and Vilde are giggling over their own bottle. Mahdi and Magnus are complimenting the selection of beers before each grabbing one and then following the others outside.

Even watches them go, and tries to make himself turn around and just tell Prince Isak he'd actually rather prefer a glass of water himself, thanks. It shouldn't be this difficult to just treat him like a human being.

“Do you not drink?” Prince Isak asks before Even can say anything, tilting his head curiously.

“Only sometimes,” Even says. “Not today.”

“Not in the mood?”

“I had enough earlier, at the parade and with my parents,” Even says, and Prince Isak nods along.

“Well, there's juice and stuff as well, so just grab whatever you want.”

“Thanks, yeah,” Even says and moves over to the fridge.

There _is_ a good selection of beer, and an equally good selection of organic fruit juices. Even reads the labels carefully, trying to decide between lingonberry and orange, when someone else walks into the kitchen. Even thinks nothing of it, assumes it's just one of the security guards, until he hears the quiet “Isak, baby? Is that you?”.

He freezes behind the fridge door, unsure what to do. He doesn't want to intrude, but hiding behind the fridge door doesn't feel entirely correct either.

“Mum,” he hears Prince Isak say. “What are you doing up?”

“I woke up and heard voices… I wanted to make sure it was you,” Princess Marianne says. She sounds a little scared, and Even feels his heart pull tight when he hears shuffling steps.

“Yeah, it's me. It's okay, mum,” Prince Isak says. “Where's Tone?”

“She's asleep,” Princess Marianne says. “I was just confused. You said you were going out.”

“I did, but I came back, mum,” Prince Isak says. “It's alright. I'll get you back to bed, okay?”

The fridge starting to beep an open door warning startles Even hard enough that he flinches, almost dropping the carton of juice in his hand.

“Who's there?” Princess Marianne asks, sounding more than just a little scared now, and Even pulls all the calm he still has left somewhere in the corners of his racing heart together to gently close the refrigerator and smile over at her.

“That's just a friend of mine, mum,” Prince Isak says, and now that Even's looking, he can see the way he's wrapped one arm around his mother, holding her hand in his other one. “Even.”

“Oh, hello, Even,” she says. “Have we met before?”

Even swallows and runs hot with nerves, but shakes his head and hopes his smile doesn't look as shaky as it feels.

“No, we haven't. You have a very lovely home,” he says, and immediately feels like slapping himself. There's only a tiny light on in the kitchen and it's the middle of the night. How in the world would Even know anything about her home?

But Princess Marianne smiles at him.

“Thank you,” she says. “I'm going to retire for the evening, but I hope you have a nice time.”

“Yes, thank you,” Even says, and then watches as another woman, this one a brunette he doesn't recognise, rushes into the room and takes Princess Marianne from her son's arms. Even assumes that's Tone.

Prince Isak presses a kiss to his mother's hair and watches the two women go before he turns around to look at Even.

“You'll have to sign an NDA,” he says, steel in his voice. “You can't tell anyone about this, understood?”

“No, of course not,” Even says. “I wouldn't. I'll sign anything you want.”

Prince Isak looks him over for a minute but then seems to decide that Even is telling the truth, slumping against the kitchen counter.

“Fuck,” he mumbles.

A few years ago, Princess Marianne was involved in some sort of accident and hasn't been seen in public a lot since. Judging by the display just now though, it's nothing physical that's hindered her. And it probably wasn't an accident as such that started it either.

“I'm bipolar,” Even finds himself saying, watching Isak look up from where he was staring at the kitchen counter like it could tell him what to do in this situation. “I'm really not going to tell.”

“Thank you,” Isak says.

After a moment of shared silence he then nods towards the open doors out into the gardens.

“Want to go join the others?”

Even looks behind himself, hears the others laugh a little ways off, and kind of wishes he had a good reason to stay in the kitchen with Isak.

“Not particularly,” he says, and flushes. Fuck. He didn't really mean to say that.

But to his surprise, Isak smiles.

“Come on then, I'll show you something.”

He slips past Even and out through the open doors, and Even follows without thinking, trailing after him away from the others' laughing voices.

“This was my favourite spot as a kid,” Isak says when he stops walking a little ways off from the house, sitting down in a small cove of birch trees.

Even carefully sits down next to him.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. My mum would take me out here and read to me when I was little, or later I'd be doing homework while she read or worked on something. It was always our spot,” Isak explains.

Even swallows heavily, heartbeat picking up again. How exactly is he meant to respond to that?

“Thank you for showing me, then.”

Isak laughs.

“Oh, it's not a big secret or anything, it's just nice. And I like coming here still when I need to work something out, or I'm feeling moody.”

Even hums carefully and looks over at Isak's profile.

“So which one is it now?” he asks.

It must be the dark that makes everything around them feel sort of distant, that draws them into a little bubble where there's only the two of them and the birch trees.

Isak smiles and looks over.

“A bit of both,” he says.

Even smiles back.

“My mum has schizophrenia,” Isak says then. “And my dad doesn't want anyone to know. He moved out to the palace and I'm pretty sure he's trying to work out how to divorce her without looking like a total dick.”

Even is stunned into silence, not quite sure how he can possibly react to that revelation.

Isak huffs a laugh.

“My parents' marriage is falling apart and I can't date anyone without it being national news. And if I do it anyway and that falls apart it's not going to just be a teenage relationship that ended, it's going to be a reflection on my 'gay lifestyle' and I don't-- I don't know how I'm ever going to get around that,” he says. “And I don't know why I'm telling you that either.”

“Well, I'm already signing an NDA, so you might as well make it worth my while,” Even jokes, surprising a bark of loud laughter out of Isak.

“Right,” he says, and then looks over at Even, eyes slowly travelling down the length of his torso and then his legs, leaving tingles in their wake.

Even's pretty sure he's never felt this lit up with nerves in his life.

“Will you let me take a picture with your camera?” Isak asks.

Even looks down at the camera resting on the grass next to him, strap slung around Even's wrist, and then back up at Isak.

“Sure,” he says and takes it off, handing it over. “You turn it on here, and that's the shutter right next to it. It's already set to night mode, so the flash'll be bright.”

Isak studies it for a moment, then turns it on, lifts it up to his face and points it at Even, shooting a picture of him a moment later.

Even blinks away the bright spots of the flash, and watches Isak watch the photo develop.

“I'll keep this,” Isak says, slipping it into his pocket without even letting Even see it. “Can I take another one?”

“Yeah, sure,” Even grins. “Go wild.”

Isak looks at him contemplatively, and then nods at the ground.

“Lie down,” he says.

Even raises a curious eyebrow, but does as he's told. He doesn't expect Isak to join him, to lie down with his head right next to Even's and bring the camera up to snap a selfie of the both of them. When it develops in Isak's hand, this time so both of them can see it, it shows Even staring at the side of Isak's smiling face with what they can both clearly see is more than just a little awe.

Isak hums a little, and Even feels that rush of nerves again.

“Eva said you have a crush on me,” Isak says, and Even wishes more than anything that he could sink down beneath the grass. “Is that true?”

He could try and laugh it off, Even supposes, but Isak's still looking at the photo, his brow wrinkled curiously like he's trying to work out if that's what Even's expression means. If that's what it looks like when someone has a crush on him.

“Yeah,” he croaks. “I mean, I don't know you, so it's-- weird. But. Yeah.”

“You have a crush on the idea of me,” Isak supplies.

Even hates how that sounds, coming from Isak himself. It feels mean, to tell a person literally lying next to you on the grass that you like a fantasy version of them better than their real self.

“I suppose, yeah,” Even says anyway, because it's true, still, isn't it? Even if it feels like an awful thing to say.

Isak hums again, and then hands Even the photo.

“You can keep this one, and I'll take another one,” he says, and Even tries not to feel like he's being let down gently by a boy he's only met an hour or so ago but been fantasising about for years. He has no idea how he's supposed to be feeling about this.

“Will you let me kiss you?” Isak asks then, and Even's head snaps around to stare at him.

Isak's voice had been firm, but there's clear vulnerability on his face, in the way his eyes flit all over Even's face, the clench of his jaw.

Did he really just--?

“Yeah,” Even breathes, eyes going wide as Isak shuffles closer, leaning into his face tentatively.

Even sort of wants to wiggle his arm under him, pull him onto his shoulder. Wants to press their sides together and card his fingers through Isak's hair.

“Hi,” Isak says, very quietly, not yet touching Even anywhere but where their shoulders press together.

“Hi,” Even says back, watching Isak watching him.

The second Isak touches their mouths together, his eyes fall shut, and it's only when he hears the sound of the shutter that he thinks to connect the two things Isak just said. He makes a little noise – half protesting the way he expects Isak to pull back again right away and half incredibly turned on by the idea that Isak will keep a picture of them kissing.

But Isak doesn't pull away.

Instead, he must set the camera down, because then the hand that was holding it just moments ago comes to rest against Even's face, holding him close as Isak opens his mouth and lets the kiss go deeper.

Even moans another small noise and then wraps his arm around Isak like he just thought about doing, hoists him half on top of himself in a way that makes Isak lean up on his forearms, hovering above Even with their chests touching. Isak's fingers find their way into Even's hair, carding through it again and again, and his tongue finds its way into Even's mouth.

So Even puts his own hands on the back of Isak's neck and his waist, holds him close and lets his body relax underneath him. Lets himself go pliant and open, lets Isak kiss him however slow and thorough he pleases, like he's trying to test out all the different ways he can touch Even's mouth with his own.

Even's entire body is glowing.

Isak doesn't take another photo and he only pulls back when they can hear the others calling for them, voices getting louder and closer. But then, when Isak sits up next to him, eyes wide and hair a little messy, lips well-kissed, it's Even who grabs the camera and snaps a quick photo.

Isak snatches both that and the one of them kissing up and shoves them into his pocket.

“I'm keeping that one too,” he says, and leans down to drop a last peck on Even's mouth before he gets up and jogs over to meet Eva and Jonas.

Even follows at a more leisurely pace and tries to look like someone who didn't just lie on the grass making out with a prince. He's not sure he's successful, but no one says anything, so that's something.

They spend the rest of the night together, all eight of them, and when the sun starts to rise at around four in the morning they climb a little hill in the gardens and collapse into one big pile. Even can't resist taking a photo of Isak slumped over with his head in Eva's lap, and takes a few more of them all, just to cover it up. The sunrise at Skaugum is gorgeous, but it doesn't top the way Even's blood is still singing every time he catches Isak's eyes.

Still, there's no more secrets shared in the early morning light, no more secret kisses. Isak shows them all to various guest rooms and then disappears down the hall into his own. The next morning, they're all met with NDAs to sign, and the security guy from last night offering them a ride back into Oslo.

Isak's nowhere to be found.

“He's probably still sleeping,” Eva says with a tired grin, looking very much like she, too, would prefer to still be sleeping.

“You can sleep back at mine,” Noora says, brushing Eva's hair back from her forehead. Jonas sits on Eva's other side, head on her shoulder the way Eva has hers on Noora's.

Vilde and Magnus are huddled together, and even Chris is unusually quiet where she sits with Mahdi, both of them staring off into the middle distance.

“Are we ready to go?” the security guy asks, collecting their signed NDAs.

“I forgot my camera,” Even says and hops up. “I'll be right back.”

It's not that Even really thinks he's going to bump into Isak in the two minutes it takes him to go collect his camera to share some sort of a capital-M Moment, but he wishes for it anyway, heart pounding all the way to the room he slept in last night. Instead, he pulls the photo he took of Isak at the sunrise out of his pocket along with his pen, doodles a little regalia onto Isak and signs the date and time for him. Then flips it over and puts down his phone number. He hopes Isak will be the one to find it, or that at least whoever does will pass it along to him and not simply throw it out.

Five minutes later, he's back in the car, up front this time while Noora, Eva, and Jonas share the back seat.

He's clinging to his camera in his lap, the first selfie Isak took of them burning a hole in the pocket of his jeans, Isak's soft smile and Even's wonder burned into his memory already.

Fuck, he hopes it won't be their last.

 

**The End**

 

****


End file.
